


Let Me Fall Asleep (to the Sound of Your Voice)

by gayvictorianboyfriend



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Ariadne is the best friend who tells Arthur to stop being an idiot, Arthur is an idiot in love, Displays of affection, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Medical School, Mutual Pining, medical student
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 04:13:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19940026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayvictorianboyfriend/pseuds/gayvictorianboyfriend
Summary: Arthur is sick of being lovesick, he’s going to become a doctor and he should be able to heal all ailments but this one doesn’t seem so easy.





	Let Me Fall Asleep (to the Sound of Your Voice)

He’s so fucking tired. Arthur has been on the urge of falling asleep for the last few hours but he hasn’t given in to the temptation in order to get shit done. He stays awake for hours, cramming his brain with information about the human body: the femur is the strongest bone in the human body, the inferior vena cava is the largest vein and etc… The light from his desk lamp hurts his eyes now and he can’t make out the words on the pages of his textbook. “Arthur,” a voice mutters beside him and he doesn’t know if he’s hallucinating at this point. He’s not, Eames is there beside him. It’s early in the morning and Eames had gone to bed hours ago, he probably didn’t expect to see Arthur up still, drowsy as hell and probably mumbling to himself. Eames closes the book and Arthur doesn’t even notice because at this point he’s so far gone. “Love, what are you doing up this late?” 

“Studying,” he mumbles as Eames helps him up. “Hey!” 

“Shush, you’re going to bed.” 

“Study,” he whines. “I need-” 

“Sleep,” Eames finishes for him. “You need to sleep.” He’s too tired to protest so he finds himself at the mercy of Eames as he lays him into bed and Arthur knocks out instantly. 

He winces at the morning light. It’s blinding. Arthur hates waking up, it’s an escape from pleasure and bliss. He used to burying himself in the sheets and forgetting about the rest of the day until his brain makes him feel guilty. The sheets smell different this time and he realizes he’s not in his own apartment. They feel different, they’re softer and the pillow smells different as well. It comes back to him and he remembers studying at Eames’ apartment and then the rest all turns black. He must have fallen asleep here. He opens his eyes to see Eames come into the bedroom, two coffees in each of his hands and a bagel hanging out of his mouth. He thinks that Eames says “good morning” but it’s muffled by the food hanging out of his mouth. Arthur groans. “I’m sorry,” he says. 

“Don’t be.” Eames hands him a coffee. “You’re too stressed out. How much sleep do you usually get?” 

He winces. “You don’t want to know the answer to that question.” Eames groans. 

“Arthur, you’re killing yourself. You need to-“ 

“Med school doesn’t care if I get enough sleep or not.” 

“Well you better get more sleep or you’re going to die before you become a doctor.” He shoves the bagel into Arthur’s mouth before he can protest. He stays at Eames for the rest of the day, studying and allowing himself to be pulled away by his friends so they can eat and watch stupid shit on tv. Arthur has never really allowed himself the luxury of a relationship. He hasn’t had the time, the last boy he was with walked out on him without so much as a phone call. Arthur was hurt for weeks but he moved on and now here he was on Eames’ couch. He hasn’t allowed himself to feel anything for anyone in a while. Arthur’s strategy is to throw himself into his work until he drowns in it, that way he doesn’t have time time to look at anyone else. But Eames is here and he doesn’t have a second thought as to his bad romance history. 

Arthur has slowly moved himself into Eames apartment. It occurs to him after he takes a shower and changes into some clothes that he had left over. It smelled fresh and clean, Eames must have washed it for him. Eames has gone to work and had a few errands to run before he came home. Arthur steps out, looking at his paperwork that spread over Eames’ desk with medical textbooks and notebooks. “Oh,” he says aloud to himself as he considers that he really has moved himself into his friend’s apartment. He spends more time here anyway since he doesn’t have to come home to any empty single bedroom apartment and remind himself that he has no social life besides for a few of his close friends. Besides, Eames always has food and a coffee maker and he makes sure that Arthur eats and actually drinks water so that he doesn’t die unexpectedly. Arthur reassures himself that it’s totally okay to randomly sort of move in with your friend. 

He spends half of the day cleaning. It’s somewhat a de-stressing for him, he doesn’t have to worry about tests or whatever, he can just focus on cleaning up and not feeling like a major asshole for doing it sooner. It seemed rather unfair that he didn’t help clean up after himself, he was just so stressed over medical stuff it hadn’t occurred to him to maybe help Eames and not just leave his stuff everywhere. It also occurs to him what a slob Eames is. He cleans up his bedroom and there are close strewn about all over the place, the bed hasn’t been made and his dresser is a disaster. He hums to himself as he cleans. It only takes him a few hours to clean up the whole apartment. Arthur helps himself to whatever leftovers are in the fridge and gets back to studying. 

Eames comes home to a rather tidy apartment and a passed out Arthur on his couch, he’s drolling on his shoulder and there’s a medical textbook open on his chest. He laughs to himself, poking Arthur in the chest which makes him move a little but not wake up. He laughs again and sets down the groceries and their dinner. He hears Arthur mumbling in his sleep, none of it coherent. He goes over and pokes Arthur again and again until he wakes up. “Just let me sleep,” he mumbles. “Come on,” he whines. “Please.” 

“I’ve got burgers for dinner now get up.” Arthur gets up, rubbing his eyes and puts the groceries away. 

The hamburger is delicious. He hasn’t eaten anything since lunch and apparently past out when he was supposed to be studying. He makes small talk with Eames, the kind that you enjoy with your friends, the one which develops into funny stories and banters and suddenly Arthur can’t stop talking or looking at Eames whenever he smiles or laughs. He’s never aware of it. When all is said and done he puts the dishes away and goes back to the desk to continue reading about the liver and all of its wonderful functions. Eames stops him. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?” 

“Studying,” he mumbles. “Come on, I’ve got to finish up this chapter.” 

“Don’t you think you’ve done enough studying for today or a lifetime perhaps?” Arthur rolls his eyes. “Come on Arthur, you need more sleep.” 

“I just had a nap.” 

“You’ve still got bags under your eyes and you’re tired. Just sleep man, you’ve got tomorrow to read about whatever.” He frowns as he heads over to the bedroom. He knows Eames will put up a fight if he finds him trying to study whatsoever so he strips and changes. He expects to sleep on the couch but Eames fights about that too. “My bed has enough room for both of us.” 

“It’s fine.” 

“My bed is more comfortable than the couch, now stop making a fuss and go.” Arthur sleeps pleasantly that night. 

The next few weeks past and Arthur has grown into a routine. He goes to school, studies and goes home and studies some more. Eames make sure that he’s not stressing himself out more than he needs to be, they eat dinner together and fall asleep together. He likes it, it makes his life feel a little more sane now that someone looks over at him and worries about him just a little. Not that he wants Eames to worry about him. He can complain when he’s stressed out and really, really needs to vent to someone and Eames offers commentary and support. Arthur smiles at the warm feeling that grows in his chest but doesn’t quite know what it means. He doesn’t worry about it because he’s got plenty of other things to worry about. 

“Don’t you think that it’s a little weird?” Ariadne asks him. “You haven’t been to your own apartment for at least a month now and you’re sort of living with this guy-” 

“Eames,” Arthur corrects her. “So what? His place is better than my apartment, he’s always got food, brings me dinner, forces me to go to sleep-” 

“Ahh, so that’s why you’re paying more attention than before.” Arthur rolls his eyes. 

“No, all I’m saying is that living with him is a better living situation for me.” 

“You’re just bumming off of him for the free food.” 

“It’s not just free food. His bed is pretty comfortable too.” If Arthur was going to be honest, he wasn’t living with Eames for just for that. He likes the way that Eames cooks and laughs, the way he can make pancakes and wakes him up in the morning and after he’s had a nap. He likes the way the sheets smell and how soft they are. He likes being around his friend more than he should, more than anyone should really. He wants to stay at that beloved apartment forever and never leave if he could, just stay there with Eames and bake with him so he can make fun of the one thing that Eames can’t do. “Shit,” he says looking over at Ariadne. “I think I might be in love with him.” She spits out her coffee. 

Arthur doesn’t like confusion. It muddles his mind and causes him to be distracted by something else and he likes to keep focus on one thing at a time. His sudden realization to the feelings that are bubbling in his chest makes it hard to focus for the rest of the day, he doesn’t concentrate on the rest of his class very much because all of his focus has gone towards the warm light floating around in his chest. He takes the subway to Eames’ apartment that night, trying to drown out his own thoughts with music and whatever else he can distract himself with. He ends up at the apartment anyway and Eames is already there making dinner. “Oof mate, are you alright? Looks like you just got hit by a train.” 

“I’m fine,” he says, setting his bag down. They eat their pasta (Arthur loves Eames’ pasta, he makes it with just the right amount of flavor and spice) and Arthur can feel his friend looking at him. 

“I’ve got a few spliffs if you want to smoke them? It might take off the edge for you,” Eames suggests and Arthur couldn’t agree faster. He smoked a lot in high school as a habit that came out of stress from studying, it continued in college and now here he was sitting on the couch and letting his head hang back as he tried to relax. It didn’t take long for it to hit his system and he felt better. He talked to Eames about random shit, anything that crossed his mind and they were both laughing and giggling. “I like you, Arthur, you’re not such a stick in the mud.” 

“And you’re not the world’s biggest douchebag,” he shoots back. Eames laughs. “I thought you were a major asshole when we first meant. You’ve got that air about you,” he laughs. “Good thing you’re not.” Eames smiles a little with his crooked teeth and Arthur wouldn’t have it any other way. 

He tries his best to ignore his own feelings for the next few weeks. Ariadne pushes him to at least think about his feelings and not forget them all together but he focuses more on their exam coming up rather than Eames’ eyes or smile. It doesn’t help that he ends up falling asleep in Eames’ bed at the end of the day or that he’s the first person he sees when he opens his eyes. He doesn’t exactly like relationships. His last one was a little messy, to say the least, and Arthur needed more time for himself to focus on school than to some other boy with nice doe eyes. But just because he has a tendency to lean away towards relationships doesn’t mean that he doesn’t want to take Eames out for dinner on Friday nights when he doesn’t feel like loading himself with work or feels like laying against him on the couch whenever they watch a movie or in bed too for that matter. He groans when he realizes his feelings are starting to get in the way of things and tells Ariadne when they go out on their lunch break, after all, she is the only other person he’s really got to talk too. 

Ariadne wants to slap Arthur for being so stupid. “Just tell him how you feel.” Arthur makes a groaning sound like all the life is being sucked out of him and it’s incredibly painful. “Or don’t and suffer the consequences but I’m not going to be here to talk about your boy troubles.” 

“Don’t you remember my last relationship?” 

“Robert was an asshole. Not every relationship is the same, you know that right? Besides, I haven’t seen you this lovesick since Tom in college.” Arthur groans again. 

“Please don’t remind me about him, especially since I confessed my love to him and it was totally embarrassing and he had to let me down easy.” 

“Okay first off, you were drunk out of your mind, I mean seriously. And not to be rude but you ‘confessing your love’ was you just crying over how pretty he was in front of him.” 

“I couldn’t look at him in the eye until I graduated!” 

“Just don’t get shitfaced and have a normal conversation with another normal sane human being who is probably very understanding. It’s not like he’s going to laugh in your face or mock you just because you like him.” 

“Yeah well… It feels like that sometimes? I always expect the worst, I guess.” 

He comes home earlier than Eames that day and tries to cook dinner. It’s absolutely horridness as he freaks out and pulls out a burning chicken from the oven. Well, he owes Eames a new chicken seeing as how he was the one who had bought it. “Fuck,” he curses and of all the things he does is call his _mother_. Arthur has always been close to his mother, she gives the best advice and Arthur can’t say that he doesn’t call her when he’s desperate. She answers the phone with joy and talks to her son. “Mom, I really need your help cooking a meal.” 

He makes do with what he has in the kitchen (none of it actually belongs to him so he hopes Eames will be a little happy to see Arthur cooking). She gives him a simple recipe to follow, prosciutto-wrapped chicken sounded good to him and it seemed easy to follow, he just hoped that it tastes good. “What the hell is all this?” Eames says as he walks into his apartment, looking at the wreck that is his kitchen and Arthur that looks like deer in headlights as he hangs up the phone. “Surprise,” he says weakly. “I made dinner.” 

“I can see that?” He questions and looks over at the meal. “Why?” 

“Ummmmm…I just felt like it?” He shrugs. 

“You...felt like cooking dinner...for me?” _Oh god, please kill me now, just strike me where I stand,_ Arthur thinks as he stands sheepishly in the kitchen. 

“Yeah, I guess.” The smile that spreads across Eames’ face is unreplaceable. “Are you just gonna stand there and gawk at me or are you going to help?” 

Dinner was good, to say the least. Arthur decided that he needed to call his mom for more recipes because he didn’t believe that he actually cooked it, it tasted so good, all the flavors and spices mixing together and blending. “Alright, I’ve actually got to say you’re not the world’s worse cook,” Eames admitted as he ate more food. “This really isn’t half bad.” 

“You need to thank my mom for this, she’s the one who gave me the recipe.” There was a small grin pulling at the corners of Eames’ mouth and Arthur ate more food, trying to remember what he actually wanted to do tonight. _God, just say it, say it._ Before he can, Eames strikes up a conversation about his day and the new girl at his work that follows him around like a puppy. Arthur does nothing to try to deviate the conversation to what he was meaning to talk about and lets it play through as they eat dinner. It seems easier this way, god it always seems so easy and then Arthur remembers how nervous he is, how his heart rate increases and his pupils dilate which all show the signs that he’s in love even though he doesn’t exactly want to confront that yet. He really doesn’t want too, he doesn’t exactly know why he made dinner, what he’s doing right now or―

“Hey?” Eames looks at him, his eyebrows raised. He’s concerned. “You alright? You just sort of… blanked out.” 

“Yeah,” Arthur clears his throat. “I’m fine.” They eat dinner and continue normal conversations. Arthur is sick of being lovesick, he’s going to become a doctor and he should be able to heal all ailments but this one doesn’t seem so easy. He takes the dishes to the sink, washing them off and setting them aside in the drying rack, it seems nice to have a night where he can do this and not feel rushed like he needs to bury his face in another medical textbook but there’s a gnawing feeling in his chest and it won’t seem to stop. “I suppose I should say thank you.” Eames comes out from his bedroom, he’s already changed into sweats and an oversized t-shirt. “It really was a good dinner.” 

“Yeah,” he smiles, it’s a weak attempt but an attempt none the less. 

“You probably used up all the ingredients in my fridge.” He does laugh at that. 

“Yeah, I did.” Eames groans a little as he walks towards him. “There’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Arthur says it before he can take the words back, he can’t let himself out of this now. 

“Oh?” 

“Y-You’re alright with having me here right?” He asks though it’s more of a loaded question, Arthur really means it more as _you like me here with you, right?_ Eames looks at him. 

“Of course, you make dinner and actually manage to clean my flat every once and a while.” 

“You know what I mean.” 

“Yes, darling I’m perfectly fine with having you here. Why? Do you want to go back to your apartment because you’re free to-” 

“No, no that’s not what I meant,” Arthur sets the last plate down, drying his hands against the fabric of his jeans. “I… I guess,” he groans at how hard it is to get the words out. “I wanted to say thank you for making sure I never killed myself overstudying or lack of sleep and maybe dehydration.” Eames actually lets out a chuckle as he steps just a tad bit closer and Arthur hardly notices. 

“You do the same for me, Arthur.” 

“Yeah,” he smiles. “But thank you,” his voice starts to falter. 

“Is that why you cooked dinner? As a thank you?” 

“No.” 

“Then why?” His heart rate increases, he can feel the shakiness in his hands. 

“I… I felt like it,” he tries to smile. “I felt like doing something nice for once to just… show my gratitude.” Eames smirks brighter than anything Arthur’s ever seen. “Oh calm down and get off your high horse.” The other man can’t help but laugh and Arthur can feel himself relax a little. 

“Alright,” Eames says, smiling. “You’re going to bed tonight, don’t even think about studying.” Arthur laughs as he goes and puts away any thoughts of what he had for reviewing. 

The next morning is better considering the fact that Arthur tries to wrestle with the fact that he’s the worst person at admitting his feelings. He overasses the situation, overthinks every detail even though he’s the most oblivious person and hadn’t even really realized he was falling in love. Eames is already out of bed and probably in the kitchen from what Arthur thinks so he rubs his eyes and tries to ignore the sunlight. “Arthurrrrrrrrr!” 

“Ugh.” 

“Arthur! Get up!” 

“Leave me alone!” Eames comes in and rips the pillow off of his head. “Ughhhhh, please just let me sleep.” 

“It’s noon you idiot, come on.” Arthur begrudgingly gets up and stumbles into the living room, Eames is laughing a little because his friend looks like a cranky kid. “I made lunch and I made you coffee.” He suddenly looks happier. 

After coffee he feels better, he’s not beating himself up about his failed plans. He leans against Eames during a movie he’s put on because both of them have decided to have a lazy Saturday in and he doesn’t realize what he’s doing. He doesn’t realize when Eames’ arm goes a little stiff under his touch or his increased heart rate. He does feel Eames’ fingers run through his hair and he likes it, not thinking much about it because it turns out that this was the only day that he decided to switch his brain off. Half of the movie is over and the curtains are drawn, Arthur repositions himself to rest his head on Eames’ shoulder, paying attention to the current shootout on the television. He once again doesn’t notice the obvious signs. 

He doesn’t know who exactly makes the first move. All he does know is that Eames’ mouth tastes like peach lemonade from their lunch and that he’s savoring every second he gets from this because he doesn’t know when he’s going to wake up from this dream. But when it is over and Eames is smiling at him, Arthur realizes it. He goes in again, and again, again and again as long as Eames will let him. “I was wondering when you were going to get it,” Eames says, smiling. 

“Shut up, how was I-” 

“You think I let all my friends sleep in my bed every night and let them stay at my apartment for as long as I want.” 

“I didn’t mean-” 

“Shush Arthur, I wanted you here.” _I wanted you close._

“I wanted to be here.” The brunette smiles as he leans again, grinning brighter than the sun because he feels at home in this place. He falls asleep to Eames talking to him and making up on the lost time they had and he smiles to himself while he presses a kiss on Eames’ cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry I suck shit at making characters fall in love. Find me [here](https://ghosts-kings.tumblr.com/). Also sorry this story actually sucks I did spend a lot of time on it.


End file.
